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Edited on Tue Jun-26-07 01:41 PM by Heaven and Earth
On the failure of the Employee Free Choice Act:
"Union membership can be the difference between a poverty-wage job and middle-class security. This was probably the single most important vote on the future of the middle class cast in the Senate this year. Millions of Americans want and deserve what unions provide: health care, a secure retirement and job stability. However, businesses regularly and illegally fight union organizing drives.
"Today, a majority of the Senate stood up to make it easier for workers to join a union. A minority of senators showed which side they are on by blocking the bill today -- but they won't be able to block it forever. When I'm president, we will have strong, fair labor laws. If a Republican can join the Republican Party by signing their name to a card, any worker in America ought to be able to join a union by doing exactly the same thing."
Instead of saying "majority of the senate" he should have said "Democrats," but it's a good statement anyway. As an aside, the Democratic Party needs unions to increase their strength so they can hound even more Republicans out of the congress, and the Republicans know it.
On recent Supreme Court decisions:
"Like President Bush, Chief Justice Roberts sought high office claiming he would be a consensus-builder. But this term's rash of far-reaching 5-4 decisions proves that Roberts, like Bush, is exactly the opposite. With its two newest members, today's Supreme Court is moving the right-wing's agenda faster than we've seen in decades—slamming the courthouse doors in the faces of ordinary people, favoring big businesses over civil rights, and undermining protections for women and the environment. Because the next president will likely nominate at least one Supreme Court justice, which could shape the balance of power on the Court for years to come, the stakes in the 2008 election could not be higher."
I'm not sure why he didn't mention enabling the president to embezzle taxpayer dollars for payoffs to his cronies at the pulpit, but maybe that decision hadn't come out yet when he released the statement.
Clearly, Edwards knows what's up. I trust John Edwards to nominate a Supreme Court justice that will speak for me, and he's been pushing union-building measures for a long time now. I'd bet any amount of money that he'd sign the Employee Free Choice Act, no problem, and that should be one of the top three priorities for the Democratic Party.
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